Running my trainings and retreats in Ireland is a wonderful treat for me, that draws me deep into connection with my ancestral land.

As well as my qualifications as Firewalk instructor Trainer, Sweat Lodge Keeper, and advanced Shamanic Practitioner, one of the key things that underpins what I do is my personal experience with land and lineage, it underpins the very essence of what I do, and how I do it.

At my Firewalk Instructor Certification Training in West Ireland in 2019 I had a profound experience that I’d like to share with you. Here’s…

what happened in the Faery Fort

Where I run my training and retreats in County Mayo, West Ireland is a magical site.  We get to stay in Hobbit Holes and the place is steeped in myth, from ancient Celtic to Game Of Thrones.

Sitting above the site is a ring, or faery, fort, a mystical ancient ring of raised land where the wise woman would have gathered to work with their magik in times long gone by. You can feel the energy of it radiating out through the training rooms and land.  It’s quite magical and makes the site a great place for experiencing sacred moments and re-memberings.

On the last day of training in 2019 a group went up into the faery fort at lunchtime.

Amanda, from 7 Feathers in Canada, who was assisting me with training that year was among the group, and was being led by her divining rods to space in the circle.

The first visit to the faery fort

During their hour there the group had a powerful experience

Amanda went through the experience of giving birth. The others with her were able to support her with the pains and contractions that debilitated her as she connected with the history of the land they walked on in a very real way.

Afterwards, as they supported her to walk again, she had a second, similar experience, which she presumed was an echo through time of delivering an afterbirth.  The group concluded that the Faery Fort had been a space where the Doulas, the women who supported others in birthing, had worked.

There was also a Doula, Marie, in our group.

I was able to spend some time there, gifting herbs and crystals to the land as I reconnected with those I had known, long before I had known this body, before we moved on, following Amanda guided by her rods.

As we reached the other side of the Faery Fort, we walked back and forth abit, as if looking for something we just couldn’t locate.

Then Amanda turned to me again and said ‘they’re telling me to give you the rods’.

I had never worked with divining rods before, and it took me a minute to get my energy into a place of alignment with them.  When I felt ready I followed the rods just a few spaces, before my legs collapsed from under me as my whole body buckled in complete grief. 

As I knelt on the ground wracked with tears the wind suddenly picked up out of nowhere and a small tree to my left started moving in the wind.  I put my hand up to the tree and felt a deep knowing that I my child was buried under the tree – taken from me, before I followed them on.

Returning to the Faery Fort

Due to Covid I haven’t been back to the site for a couple of years.

I’m looking forward to returning this May – after our time in the Faery Fort I could not help but notice the spot where I’d sat with the Grandmothers as I moved around the Hobbit Holes below.

Do you have a magical spot where you’ve experienced deep re-membering or reconnection too?

Oh, and by the way…

I host a juicy, free, Facebook group, for folk like you – want to be a part of the Wild Soul Tribe and find your magik?

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